Important Notice
Law and Motion Schedule
Civil motions are heard on Tuesdays & Thursdays at 1:30 p.m. Please check the Closed Motion Dates before filing a motion. Other than discovery motions discussed below, or as set forth in an applicable scheduling and case management order, it is not necessary to clear a civil motion date with the Court before filing the motion.
In criminal cases, please contact the Courtroom Deputy Clerk to schedule all motions.
Judge's Procedures
General Procedures
Unless otherwise ordered, counsel of record must appear in person for all court proceedings other than Informal Discovery Conferences. Remote appearances (by telephone or video) for civil court proceedings will generally not be permitted if counsel for both sides are located within Los Angeles County, unless there are extraordinary reasons. Counsel wishing to request a remote appearance in civil cases must do so in writing by no later than 14 calendar days before the noticed hearing date. All criminal court proceedings must be conducted in person, except as otherwise authorized by law and ordered by the Court. Fed. R. Crim. P. 53.
The Court strongly encourages parties to permit young lawyers (with five years or less experience) who are counsel of record to appear in court at hearings.
Therefore, in any case where a motion has been submitted for decision without oral argument or a properly-noticed hearing date has been vacated sua sponte without final disposition of the motion, counsel may contact the CRD and request that a hearing be held to allow the young attorney(s) to appear. So long as there is no irreconcilable scheduling conflict, the Court will hold such hearings to give young attorneys an opportunity to make court appearances.
To request a continuance of any scheduled court proceeding or an extension of time for any deadline, the parties should submit a signed stipulation and proposed order. If it is necessary to file an ex parte application to seek a continuance, the application must comply with
Local Civil Rule 7-11
and
Local Civil Rule 7-19
and must contain opposing counsel's position. A proposed order for continuance or extension must omit the filing party's contact information from the caption page, and include all future dates impacted by the requested continuance or extension, for example, dates for opposition, reply, or hearing. A party proceeding pro se is not required to include a proposed order with a requested continuance or extension.
Procedures for filing an ex parte application: strict compliance with
Local Civil Rule 7-19
is required. Any opposition must be filed within one business day of the electronic filing of the application. The Court will notify parties if a hearing is desired. Please note that, absent an emergency, ex parte applications may not be used to obtain a ruling on a discovery dispute. The Court's procedures for discovery motions in civil cases are set forth below.
Counsel are not allowed to contact the Judge's law clerks.
Inquiries regarding the status of a motion, stipulation, or proposed order should be made to the Courtroom Deputy Clerk.
Calendar conflicts: Advise the Courtroom Deputy Clerk in advance about a calendar conflict and attempt to stipulate with opposing counsel to an alternative date and time after clearing that alternative with the Courtroom Deputy Clerk.
Procedures for bringing electronic equipment into the courtroom: Contact the Courtroom Deputy Clerk.
For general information on how to order a transcript of any reported or digitally recorded proceeding, please contact 213-894-3015 or visit the
court website
section referring to
Court Reporter/Recorder Transcripts
. For an estimate of the cost to prepare a transcript, contact the court reporter/recorder for the desired proceeding. To determine the court reporter/recorder for a particular proceeding, go to the
Court Reporter Schedule
web page and click on Select a Date. Once you have determined the correct court reporter/recorder for the desired session, click on the
Court Reporter Phone and Email List
for contact information.
Civil Procedures
Stipulated Protective Orders
General Standard. Stipulated protective orders must satisfy Rule 26 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, the Ninth Circuit's standards for protective orders, and the
Local Civil Rules
of this Court. The Court may enter a protective order only upon a showing of good cause. Kamakana v. City and County of Honolulu, 447 F.3d 1172, 1176 (9th Cir. 2006) (parties must make a "particularized showing" under Rule 26(c)'s good cause requirement for court to enter protective order). In addition, the Court will not enter a protective order that provides for the automatic sealing of all confidential documents. If confidential material is included in any papers to be filed in Court, such papers shall be accompanied by an application, pursuant to
Local Civil Rule 79-5.1
to file the papers—or the confidential portion thereof—under seal. In the event of a dispute regarding the designation of confidential information, the procedure for obtaining a decision from the Court is set forth in
Local Civil Rule 37
.
Model Protective Order. Attached below is a model protective order that satisfies the above and other requirements. When the parties submit a protective order based on this model order, a redline (or comparison) should also be provided by email to
[email protected]
that shows all the differences between the submitted order and model order. All proposed orders approving stipulated protective orders must be submitted (1) in Word format, and (2) with the full text of the stipulated protective order.
Discovery Motions
Generally. Discovery motions are to be scheduled before the magistrate judge unless otherwise ordered by the district judge. The parties are advised to review the procedures and standing orders of the assigned district judge before filing any discovery motion. Strict compliance with
Local Civil Rule 37
is required except as otherwise noted in these procedures. The Court may take a motion under submission without oral argument. See
Local Civil Rule 7-15
.
Civility. The parties are directed to review and comply with the
Civility and Professionalism
Guidelines that appear on the Court's website.
District Judge Procedures. The parties are also directed to review the scheduling order issued by the district judge assigned to their case for all provisions related to discovery, including the cutoff. That order sets forth the magistrate judge's jurisdiction over discovery disputes. Some district judges permit a discovery motion to be decided after the discovery cutoff; others require that any discovery dispute be fully briefed, argued, and decided, and that any relief ordered by the magistrate judge be completed, before the discovery cutoff. There are other variations as well. Disputes brought to the magistrate judge's attention without sufficient time for decision within the strictures of the district judge's scheduling order will be stricken or denied.
Informal Discovery Conferences
Discovery disputes often may be resolved without the need for formal motion papers. To facilitate the just and expedient resolution of discovery matters and to conserve the Court's and the parties' resources, the Court requires the parties to follow the procedure below for filing discovery motions. The procedure does not apply to ex parte applications (see General Procedure 2 above), where the motion is filed by a non-party, or where a party to the discovery dispute is in custody and is self-represented.
First, as
Local Civil Rule 37-1
requires, the parties must meet and confer in a good-faith effort to resolve any discovery dispute.
Second, if the parties conclude that they have reached an impasse, within two business days of the last meet-and-confer session, the movant must e-mail the Court at
[email protected]
seeking a conference with the Court via Zoom to discuss the discovery dispute. The e-mail must include the following:
At least three proposed times mutually agreed upon by the parties for the conference via Zoom;
The discovery cut-off date in the case;
A neutral statement of each issue in dispute, including the exact language of the discovery request, if applicable; and
A brief description, consistent with the parties' meet and confer communications, of each party's position on the dispute(s). For each dispute, the description may include a citation to no more than two pertinent cases decided by the Ninth Circuit, a district court in the Ninth Circuit, or (when applicable) the California Supreme Court or Court of Appeal. Each party's description should be no more than three sentences per dispute.
Opposing counsel as a cc: on the e-mail. The email shall not contain attachments unless directed by the Court.
Third, no discovery motion may be filed until the Court has conducted a pre-motion conference via Zoom unless the movant has obtained leave of Court sought by an ex parte application. The Court may strike any discovery motion filed in violation of this procedure.
In a civil case involving an individual in custody, the moving party must file the motion without requesting a hearing date. The Court will review the moving papers to determine whether a hearing is necessary.
Under Seal Procedures
Comply with
Local Civil Rule 79-5.2
. Because documents filed under seal are visible on CM/ECF or Pacer to only the filing party and Court personnel, a party electronically filing a document under seal may not rely on the Court's CM/ECF system to effect service as provided in
Local Civil Rule 5-3 2.1
. Documents filed electronically under seal must be served in accordance with Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 5. Documents filed electronically under seal must be accompanied by either a Proof of Service in the form required by
Local Civil Rule 5-3 1.2
or a declaration explaining why service is not required. The submission of documents for in camera review is governed by
Local Civil Rule 79-6
.
Settlement Conferences
Judge Kwok will schedule a settlement conference if the presiding judge has referred the case to Judge Kwok for a settlement conference or mediation. It is the responsibility of counsel to reach out to chambers to schedule a settlement conference in a timely manner. The parties are directed to contact chambers at least eight (8) weeks prior to the ADR deadline set by the presiding judge (or as soon as practicable if the presiding judge sets a deadline for less than 8 weeks out), and failure to do so may result in the Court being unable to offer a date that works for all parties.
Settlement conferences generally are held in person on any day of the week except for Mondays, and typically begin at 10:00 a.m.
Settlement conference papers are generally due seven (7) days prior to the conference via email to
[email protected]
, but the parties should comply with the settlement conference order issued in their specific case.
Participating counsel who have not yet made an appearance in the case must file a Notice of Appearance prior to the conference.
Criminal Procedures
Judge Kwok does not approve or issue sworn warrants and orders by telephonic or electronic means by default. All affiants needing to be sworn under oath must appear in person to the Judge’s chambers during regular court hours or in person to a designated location for urgent after-hours requests, unless otherwise instructed in advance and with express approval.
After-hours requests are considered urgent only if they cannot wait until the next business day due to no fault or lack of diligence by the government.
In accordance with General Order 19-01, unless instructed differently, government counsel are directed to email proposed documents for review and approval to:
[email protected]
. Only one hard copy of criminal documents—which if approved and executed will be returned to the affiant—are needed for regular-hour requests made in chambers. Two hard copies are needed for after-hours requests.
Mandatory Chambers Copies
Judge Kwok does not require courtesy copies of electronically filed documents. The only exception is for summary judgment motions and oppositions in civil cases. Mandatory chambers copies of those documents must be delivered to Judge Kwok's drop box (outside Room 1200 on the 12th Floor of the Roybal Federal Building) by noon on the day after filing. Chambers copies do not need to be bluebacked.
In habeas corpus cases and Social Security disability cases, Judge Kwok does not require hard copies of materials that are lodged electronically. Electronic copies of proposed orders in Microsoft Word must be emailed to the Court at
[email protected]
.
